


Angel's Fall

by blackat_greneys



Category: One Piece
Genre: M/M, Supernatural Elements, angel sanji
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2014-10-30
Updated: 2014-10-30
Packaged: 2018-02-23 05:09:08
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 11,561
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2535326
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/blackat_greneys/pseuds/blackat_greneys
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Sanji's favorite pass time in heaven was to sit himself on a cloud and watch the humans far below. Some of the other angels believed that it wasn't humanity that fascinated him, but just a certain human. They all knew that one day he was going to fall and never ascend again.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Sanji's Fall

Sanji's favorite pass time in heaven was to sit himself on a cloud and watch the humans far below. They never knew he, or any of the other angels that flew through the sky, were there, but he watched them anyway. They fascinated him. He could never explain why because when asked he stumbled on his words trying to explain. Some of the other angels believed that it wasn't humanity that fascinated him, but just a certain human. No one could ever tell for sure, because Sanji never allowed them that close. But they all knew that one day he was going to fall and never ascend again. They weren't sure when this was going to happen. They didn't know if it was going to be because of a specific human or if he just finally felt like going down and feeling the water of the ocean on his toes, but they knew it was going to happen and it did.

After a millenia of surveying people walk around down on earth Sanji found a man that captivated him. He didn't seem all that extraordinary to those he eventually told his secret interest too, but they had never watched the man before.

He was a simple man, born to a woodcarver and his wife who wanted more for their only child. Sanji learned from the mans mind, a year after he started watching him, that his parents sent him off at a young age to learn a trade, swordsmithing. A trade that was needed in their time and that could gain him money so he never had to beg or borrow for food. They made sure that the master he went to liked him so he didn't have to feel alone when they left and shortly after he left, they took them.

The boys parents had owed an organization in the next village over some money. Money they used to feed their son in his first five years of his life before he was of age to send off. The man they owed decided they had wasted enough time in not paying back their interest and had them taken away, where the boy never learned. His parents made sure to sign him over to his master before this happened, since they knew it was going to happen. This way he didn't have to suffer the same fate as them. The boy dealt with it as any six year old would, he cried. The boy was desolate for days.

It was his master's daughter who picked him up and got him going again. She taught him to be strong and never give up when something happens that one doesn't like. He followed her around like a puppy for years after that. Never letting her get too far out of his line of sight.

His master taught him the art of sword making as well as how to use them. He used to challenge the girl in anything he could think of; heating the fires fastest, eating the most food in one go, running the furthest when training together, and mock sword fights. He never won any of these and he was never given the chance. When he was eleven she passed away. It was an accident that no one saw coming, but the boy would forever blame himself even though he wasn't the cause. After that he dedicated his life to his craft and became the best in the village by the time he was eighteen.

That was when Sanji first started watching him. Sanji randomly decided on this village to peek at for the day. Just to see if anything of interest was happening, or maybe to just watch human interactions in general. He doesn't remember the reason why anymore. The boy, now a young man, was moving out of his masters on that day. He had a small pack slung over his shoulder and a white sword at his hip as he said his goodbye and walked away without looking back.

The exchange baffled Sanji. Usually when he saw people give their goodbyes to a loved one there was more emotion, usually sadness within the person's aura, but this young man didn't display any. He wore a smile within his soul as he bid goodbye and walked through the village, trying to make his way to the border where the woods began.

Sanji watched as the human got lost along the way, weaving between the buildings in the village, asking for directions to the house he was planning to live in. Sanji had never seen a human with such a bad sense of direction. One person shows the man that he needs to go right but he goes left, another shows him to keep going straight but he turns, and yet one more gestures for him to go down the hill but he goes up.

Sanji laughed at the man as the angel made his way to a lower cloud to see the little lost human, who caught his interest, better. He had never before been so entertained by just watching someone walk to a place. As Sanji approached the earth he was able to perceive, in a limited capacity, what the human who captured his attention looked like. Sanji couldn't see the mans face, but he was sure the young man was handsome based off the rest of him. His body seemed to be well built, if Sanji was seeing it right from so far away, with caramel colored skin that emphasized his odd green colored hair.

Sanji felt that this man was going to be special to him and he hoped that, maybe, he will be able to experience love. He didn't care whether he felt it through this young man's emotions or if he developed this feeling himself for the human in question. Sanji decided he wanted this man to show him why he had a smile in his aura when he left his home.

It took the young man a couple hours getting lost in the village and then a couple more in the woods before he made it to the place he was searching for. Sanji had the time of his life watching the grass head trying to find his way around. He had even tried to help a little by making trees fall into the path the moss head wasn't supposed to take. Some of these hints the young man got, others not so much, but he eventually got where he wanted to go.

It was an old house built in the middle of the woods, abandoned by the looks of it and the shed behind it showed signs of severe decay. The house's roof was half collapsed into one of the rooms, one of the four walls was beginning to sag, the floor had large holes where wooden beams had fallen through, and little animals had made their home throughout the two roomed house. It wasn't exactly a place Sanji himself wanted to call home but maybe this young man did. Sanji couldn't hear what the man was mumbling to himself, but going from the change in his aura Sanji had to guess that this house was familiar to him in his early years. Nostalgia built up in the young man's soul as he seemed to remember things about the house and his childhood that he had never gotten past or had forgotten. His aura prepared itself for work. The man put his bag on the ground beside him before he walked around the fallen building. He seemed to have his work cut out for him like he perceived he would. It took him several months of working through all the sunlight hours before he felt that he had done a decent job on the place.

Sanji watched him all those months as he worked. The moss head kept a smile on his face even when something fell or broke. Nothing seemed to bring down his dreams for this house and his future. Sanji couldn't help but wonder why this was and be envious of the man's resolve. Why was this young man so happy to be doing labor that may not be profitable?

These feelings of wanting to understand lead to the first time Sanji glimpsed into the young mans mind. He saw the boys dreams laid out before him. A place he could finally call his own, not his masters, a home he could work out of to make the best swords he could. A home removed from everyone else so he could practice his swordsmanship in peace without bothering others. A place where he could be himself and never have to worry about what others thought of him and his hobbies. He had enough of those annoying things growing up in his masters home.

Sanji had only just glimpsed into the man's present images and feelings but decided not to dig deeper in case the man felt his intrusion. However as the months went by Sanji did dig deeper and deeper, learning about the young mans sad and lonely childhood.

In his first peek into the grass heads mind Sanji got to see the mans drive, the reasoning for his smiles and laughter, he had a dream he intended to fulfill. The young man's thoughts were full of his dream. He wanted to create the perfect sword and later use it to become the best swordsman. A dream that he knew was going to be hard, but one that he felt determined to finish.

Sanji admired that in the man, the will to never give up on his dream, because the angel had lost the drive for his long ago. Angels aren't allowed to think or dream of things outside of their duties to heaven, but Sanji and a few of his friends broke that rule. They dreamed of leaving the clouds and exploring the lands below them. Sanji wanted to walk upon the land he watched over, be with the humans who covered it, feel grass and water under his feet, and to try food. Sanji prided himself in knowing all he could about what humans ate, how they cooked things, what they cooked them with, and how they were supposed to taste. Yet he had never had any before. Angels were forbidden to even think about trying any. Sanji wanted to leave heaven and travel the grounds he watched out for, but doing that meant leaving his post. No angel ever left their post. If they did they received the ultimate punishment that anyone on earth or in heaven could bestow, banishment down to hell, to be tormented and tortured by the souls residing there. Souls that doomed themselves to horrors not worth mentioning for living lives that were wrong in their society and its rules. Sanji didn't want this to happen to him, he couldn't allow himself to leave heaven, even though now he had someone he deemed worthy to leave his home for. Instead Sanji kept an ever watchful eye on the young man, even though the angel was already committing treason by not working as often as he was supposed to.

He kept watching over the grass head as he finished fixing up his house; the roof was now in one piece, the rodents were all gone, the floor was whole, and the walls were standing upright again. The young man had also made himself some furniture with the leftover wood he had available. He made himself a bed, along with a desk and a simple chair. He also made a table and four chairs for his little house.

The moss ball then went to work on the small shed situated behind the house that he planned to transform into his smithery. Again he worked alone on it, and again it took him several months to complete.

By the time the young man finished with his house and work shed he had been living in this part of the woods for almost a year. Within this time he had never had a visitor, not the house builder who gave him supplies in town nor his former master, came to see the work he had done on the small place. It didn't seem to bother the young man as he ate his small lunch by himself every day, but Sanji could see that at the bottom of the the man's soul he was lonely. The angel felt a need rise within him to join the moss ball at his table, his chest clenched with a feeling he couldn't place as he watched the human wash the dishes in silence.

The grass head had left his home occasionally to go to the village for more supplies for his house, such as food, furniture, and more, as well as get tools he needed for his smithy. However these outings were few and far between, and even then he hadn't talked to others or visited his master.

Sanji searched the young mans mind as to why he wouldn't want to see the man who taught him his trade. It was at this moment that the angel first peered into the life the young man had lead up until Sanji began watching him. Only then did Sanji learn that the man's dream was not to become a swordsmith in these woods, but to become the worlds greatest swordsman.

Sanji couldn't help but wonder how this man could smile after all those hard years. He knew that the grass head couldn't wait to fulfill the dreams, but that couldn't be the only reason for the smiles and happiness. Yet for the man it was.

This was when Sanji truly realized how important this young man was too him. Sanji may not know his name or how his voice sounds, but he had been watching the man for so long that none of that mattered. The only thing that Sanji was beginning to see that was important was getting to know the moss ball more. See more of how he lived, thought, and felt. Sanji diminished the amount of duties he was still doing when those thoughts struck him. He wanted to watch the man before him more than he cared about his work and his assistance in heaven.

Exactly one year after the young man moved out of the village, he had his first visitor. They didn't visit him on purpose. It was more of an accident than anything, but it sparked a friendship and a change for the green haired man. The boy who appeared that day carried the brightest aura Sanji had ever seen in a human. Sanji vaguely wondered how the boy could be so happy, but wasn't curious enough to look into his mind. He was a scrawny teenager that seemed to have an excessive love of food, making new friends, and out of control black hair that was usually hidden beneath his straw hat that he refused to part with. Just as Sanji had began calling his favorite human variations of names pertaining to his odd colored hair, he started to call the new human straw hat boy.

The teen showed up at the grass heads house in what is only describable as a fated meeting. He was being chased by one of the largest boars in the forest and happened upon the young man when he was outside training with the white sword that Sanji learned the master passed to him after his daughters death. The moss head killed the boar in a single swing and then proceeded to cook it with the teen accompanying him for the meal. The amount that the straw hat boy ate astounded Sanji. Through all his countless years of watching humans eat on earth he had never seen one consume this much without it showing in their figure. Sanji could only guess that it had to be a fast metabolism at first, and later learned that this was the case plus the boys constant need to keep moving which kept him in his spindly form.

Sanji remained keeping his eyes on the earth as the straw hat started going over to the moss balls whenever he could. The young teen sometimes sat and watched as the moss head made his swords or practiced with them, never really bothering the young man unless he wanted to spar or eat. Sometimes the straw hat forced Sanji's human out of his house to go visit others in the village. That was how the man became friends with the long nosed boy, who carried an aura of bravery hidden under his cowardice and falsehoods, as well as the boy with the pink hat, whose aura radiated knowledge and hope.

Sanji wasn't sure how he felt about the moss ball getting friends. He now knew he wasn't alone in being able to see the appeal of the man and that frustrated Sanji to a certain degree. The angel couldn't see the young mans smile, couldn't be smiled at, couldn't make him happy, but mostly Sanji couldn't be there. Sanji wanted that as he watched the three new boys hung all over the grass head like branches on a tree and Sanji didn't like it. It was a feeling, like all other emotions, that he had never experienced before. Sure he knew a lot about what emotions might feel like inside himself, but knowing the theory and actually feeling it was different. He could have been feeling several different emotions. At first he deduced that it could be envy, which was possible since he wanted to befriend the moss ball too. He also thought it could be jealousy, but that one seemed less likely at the time.

Several months after the green head became friends with these three boys an incident happened that changed everything in and around their lives.

It began as any other day for the moss head; he woke up, had a small simple breakfast of porridge, did his morning sword practice, then went to work in his smithy. The straw hat and the others came by around lunch time like they had been doing for the past month or so. During their lunch discussion the grass heads aura switched from contentment to a mix of excitement, apprehension, fear, and nervousness. Sanji couldn't hear what they were discussing, but he saw and felt the change permeate throughout the moss balls body as well as his own. He watched as the grass head jumped up from the table, grabbed his precious sword and ran out the door towards the village. The others boys following fast on his heels with different apprehensive feelings surrounding them. The long nose and the pink hatted boy were frighted for their new friend, sending out hopes within their souls that nothing bad will happen to him. The straw hat was just as excited as the moss head except that he wasn't carrying any nervousness within him. Sanji briefly wondered if the boy could feel anything other than happy emotions as he watched them turn a corner pulling the lost man along by his arm as he swivelled to head down the wrong path. He watched them run through the woods up to the village, stopping occasionally for the long nose and pink hat to catch up since they weren't as energetic about what was going to shortly occur before them.

A kilometer before the group of young men reached the edge of the village they ran into a man who, honestly, frightened Sanji. His aura was missing. It was almost like he didn't have emotions, or he kept them buried so far down in his soul that nothing mattered to him. He stood there looking at the group who appeared before him. Sanji watched as the man with no soul exchanged words with his moss ball, not knowing what was going on but Sanji was at least able to tell that this was a confrontation the moss head wanted. His aura spiked. He was ready for a fight. He drew his sword and prepared for the battle he was seeking with the hawk eyed man before him.

Sanji assumed this was the one that held the title of the world's best swordsman, judging by the massive black blade he had attached to his back. It was a possible explanation for the grass heads sudden interest in fighting and the rise of excitement within his soul. Sanji was nervous as he watched the man take out a small knife from around his neck causing the moss balls anger to boil up and out. Sanji noted to himself that the straw hats aura had disappeared much like the moss heads opponents had. Sanji had expected to still see excitement or maybe fear, but all he got was nothing. He briefly wondered why this was before his attention diverted back to the man he cared for.

Sanji felt the shockwave of powerful blows sound throughout the earth around him as the two men below began their fight. The swings and hits were so powerful that the cloud Sanji perched on began to shift out of balance due to the air current that they were producing. Sanji watched as the two men battled it out. The moss head fighting as hard as he could but getting nowhere in his endeavors, while the hawk man started to show boredom within himself. Sanji saw that this fight was going to end badly. He knew the grass heads friends weren't going to interfere; the straw hat was determined to stand out the fight without helping until after his friends ego gets shattered, while the other two were cowering in fear behind a tree several yards away from the fight.

Sanji wanted to help the man he had grown to care for in the last year. He felt a powerful urge growing within him to throw himself to the earth and smite the hawk eyed man, but he also knew that if he did, torture awaited him. His fear of imprisonment for eternity outweighed his wants of saving the only human he ever felt the pull to watch. Fear was a powerful emotion that Sanji now fully understood. He watched in petrified anguish as the hawk man and the moss head paused in their blows to talk a little before the hawk pulled his long sword off of his back and pointed it at the moss ball. Sanji felt an emotion surge forth from the man, he was now beyond bored and wanted to end this quickly. Even though he seemed impressed with the boys fighting capabilities, he couldn't take the repetitiveness of it anymore. He was now aiming to kill the young man before him.

Sanji's heart leapt in his chest when the hawk eyed man swung his blade down aiming to cleave the moss ball in two, so Sanji took a chance to help even if he was too afraid to go to the earth to give it. He damped the hawk mans blow by pushing the grass head back, away from the blade with a strong gust of wind, moving him just a little so that the blow that hit across his chest was still there but it wasn't going to kill the young man. Sanji and the other boys below him watched as the hawk man left, not caring about what happened to his opponent, yet whispering something to the green head as he passed. Sanji didn't know what it could have been, but he could see in the hawk's aura the he was impressed with something the young man had done during the battle, even if he had gotten bored of it. While the grass heads soul was ashamed of himself.

Sanji felt his heart crumble as the hawk man left and the other two boys ran to their friend to help him. He knew that all he had to do was swoop down to the earth, lightly touch the moss ball's skin and he would instantly heal without scars. But the fear of damnation kept him at bay as he watched the three boys, all showing their worry for their friend, carry him back to his home, lay him on his bed, and then let the pink hatted one fix him up the best he could. Sanji watched it all from his perch in the clouds, dangerously close to tumbling off his seat and falling, making sure the pink hat boy did everything the way it should properly be done. Sanji continued to kept vigil on the boys as they stayed together and healed from what had happened.

After the incident Sanji saw a change happen within the moss ball, he became more determined than ever to reach his goals. His happy aura was still present when his friends came to visit, but when he was alone his aura showed off his single mindedness of getting stronger than he was before. He trained more than he ever did; he lifted larger weights, ran longer, and practiced more hand to hand with the straw hat boy. His smiles became less frequent and a scowl of concentration took hold of his features.

Sanji wasn't all that bothered by the change in the grass head, because he felt a change stir within himself at the same time. He was starting to get irritable quickly whenever a fellow angel asked for his assistance. He completely stopped doing all his other duties besides watching the earth. He had stopped hunting down the demons that escaped from hell, he stopped lighting up his section of the stars at night, he stopped pruning the forest he was given to care for, and he let one of the species of animals he was supposed to be guarding begin to die out.

The other angels weren't sure what was happening with him. Some of them had begun to take up some of his duties so he wouldn't get in trouble with the higher ups, but no matter how much they did or how they tried to help he had stopped responding to them. His attention was on the health and well being of the human he had fallen in love with.

He could admit it. He had never felt such a jolt of emotion pass through him as when he experienced the pain of almost losing his human. There were no subtle hints in his viewing of the mans life that Sanji felt this way, but looking back he could see he was jealous of the moss balls friends, and that he wanted to get closer and be closer with the man he watched over.

The other angels slowly began to accept Sanji's slip into not doing his work after months of him sitting on clouds watching a certain part of the earth. They all figured he had found something that caught his interest and several of them had tried sitting beside him to find out what it was, but they never could see what interested him so much. None of them saw the same appeal in any of the people below, on the surface or in the part of earth he was so fixated on. They just knew that he would probably never come back from this untill the person died, or the village was in ruins, or the forest demolished, or if Sanji fell to the earth.

None wanted Sanji to fall. He was one of the favorites among them, he used to keep smiles on everyones faces, but now he would ignore them, and snapped at them if they asked something too personal or too many questions. They left him to his new interest.

Meanwhile Sanji kept his eye on the man he loved. He watched him heal, leaving behind a scar that would never fade stretching from his left shoulder to his right hip. So that when he worked out the silvery line of skin glistened in the sun from the sweat and made Sanji crave the body he watched before him. Sanji saw him fight more battles to see how far he had come from before. The moss ball gained more scars for his efforts; matching ones along his ankles, one from a dagger to the stomach, even one across his left eye almost causing him to lose it. Sanji had again made sure that he didn't, moving the green haired man just in time to avoid the fatal blow. He made sure to make it seem like the grass head moved on his own power.

A little over a year after the moss heads run in with the hawk man Sanji's want to finally meet and hear the moss ball see him and call his name out weighed the fear of torture for eternity in hell. He was still afraid of damnation so he had come up with a viable plan that he hoped would make it seem like he accidently fell and didn't leave his duties on purpose, even though he hadn't been doing them for over a year. He never noticed the full extent of the time change, he knew that time had passed, but he never gauged how long it was until he finally started formulating his plan. After he realized he figured his friends could keep him safe from the higher ups for a while longer.

After a span of two and a half years of sitting on a cloud watching and falling in love with a man below on the earth Sanji finally got up and looked for his two best friends.

It was a shock to the other angels to see Sanji flying through the clouds again after so long. His eyes scanned over his brethren as he searched for the two friends he trusted most. He felt his wings beat behind him, happy to finally be free in the air they loved.

He scowered a group of angels below him for the Raven wings of his friend Robin. She was the only angel in the whole of heaven who had them, the total blackness was uncommon among their species. Raven's are seen as bringers of misfortune, but Robin wasn't that. She didn't bring the misfortune onto others, she tried to warn them of it, she kept a watchful eye out for those of her family. Her wings, to Sanji and their mutual friend Nami, were seen as a good thing, a good omen. Not only that but they were beautiful. The all encompassing black shined with a purple glow when the sun hit them just right, making Robin look all the more elegant with her straight black hair and her black robes. He spotted her sitting off on a cloud far below the others, reading an ancient tome she must have found hidden in the angels library and talking to their friend Nami.

Nami's wings resembled a Chickadees, a lovely pale grey with white throughout causing them to have a speckled look, which clashed wonderfully with her bright orange hair. The wings themselves were small, light, and elegant just like her. They spoke of her personality just as well as Robin's did. Chickadees have a high intelligence and understanding of the world, belying their small stature, Nami embedded those within herself. They're also not ones to be afraid of showing others just who they are, Nami also did not care what others thought of her and never failed to make that clear. It was one reason why she, as well as Robin, were outcasts among the other angels.

Sanji never cared about that. The two women weren't given enough chances with the other angels to show how great they truly were. Angels judged one another harshly, solely based on the wings that they doned on their back.

As Sanji began his descent towards his two friends he thought about his own wings. He had always been embarrassed that he had the wings of the Bufflehead duck; black with a white band near his back where wing meets skin. Sure the wings of a wild duck showed what he was like inside; he was sensitive and peaceful when he was by himself, but when confronted by others he would lash out most of the time. He understood who he was as an angel and he was content in his individuality and love for adventure, just like a wild duck. But still knowing that he had the wings of a bird he wanted to try eating slightly disturbed him.

The two women looked up as they heard him approach, and even though both were surprised to see him away from his cloud they tried not to show it. They knew that one day he was going to come to them and tell them why he had stopped everything, even if it took several years for him to arrive.

He landed beside them with hardly a sound before he walked up to each of them and kissed their knuckles. Sanji's voice resonated within the women's minds while he blocked off the other angels from listening in he asked, "I have a lot of explaining to do, don't I?"

"Yes you do." Nami and Robin's voices echoed within him before he began his story.

He told them about seeing the moss ball for the first time. The confidence and resolve the young man carried. He told them about the first year where he watched him build his home and his work place so that he could fulfill his dream. Sanji even added in how he was envious of the young mans will to make his dreams come true. They were some of the first emotions he experienced towards the grass head. Then he went into the second year. How he almost died in a fight. How Sanji came to realize he was in love, but was too scared to act on it. He told them about losing track of time as he watched the young man work out and experienced physical attraction towards the moss ball for the first time, as he got in more fights, as the young mans smile slowly turned into a scowl, as Sanji fell more in love with him for just being so pig headedly determined. And then as Sanji realized that he desired to meet the man, to finally learn his name, see his face, and hear his voice.

The women were patient throughout his retelling. They didn't interrupt once, waiting until his resonating stopped before they echoed anything in return.

"You're planning to descend?" Nami asked with a quiver vibrating through her voice while her wings dropped. Robin just looked at him with her all knowing eyes and mysterious smile, wings held against her back as Sanji talked.

Sanji hesitated with his answer, knowing that Nami wasn't going to take it well and he didn't want to hurt his lovely flower. "Um… well, yes."

As he expected Nami started yelling at him that he is an idiot with her wings flying out behind her in her fury. "You are so stupid Sanji! You know what will happen if you leave heaven voluntarily." She shuddered at the thought, while her shoulders and wings fell, of what could happen to him; torture, pain, death, rebirth, and then all over again while listening to the other souls of the damned. Sanji reached over and placed an arm around her shoulder holding her to him as she worried.

Robin spoke up and, forever being the voice of reason, mentioned the one thing Sanji hoped would come out of his falling. "Nami, if he falls and the human touches his wings he will be safe from that torment."

"But Robin," Nami pulled herself out of Sanji's hold as she stepped up to her friend, "if he does that he will become human. We will never see him again."

Sanji saw the slump of Nami's wings as she thought about a life without her friend. A life that for her will still stretch into infinity, while Sanji's could barely reach beyond a few decades.

"If the human loves him back why shouldn't he become human."

That was the one thing Sanji was afraid to contemplate. If he fell to earth, the only way he was willing to stay was if the moss ball came to love him back. If not, Sanji knew he was going to need to ascend again, and that was going to end badly for him.

"Still," Nami said, "if the human doesn't come to love him, then what? He would have fallen. He would have committed treason of the highest degree; leaving his post."

"Nami," Sanji stepped up beside her, placing his hand on her upper arm as her wings fell towards the cloud in her tormented feelings, "I've already committed treason. I stopped working. Besides I have a plan to make it seem I didn't fall by choice."

Both women looked up at him, curiosity written on Nami's face, while Robin just smiled.

"It's something stupid, isn't it?" Nami questioned when Sanji didn't elaborate and from his hesitation she knew she was right. "You are such an idiot. So what's this plan?"

"Well," Sanji took his hand back from Nami's arm in case he had to protect himself from a punch to the face, "I was thinking I could 'fall asleep' on my cloud and then 'accidentally' roll off."

Sanji was right, he got punched in the face with Nami's fist as her wings flew out. "You are such an idiot!" Nami's resonating voice was shrill within his mind as she yelled at him causing a bolt of heat lightning to hit the town beneath the cloud they perched on. "You know that if you do that you will fall badly and hurt yourself!"

Robin placed a calming hand on her friends shoulder, causing her wings to slowly lower. Robin turned her eyes onto Sanji, whose face was crestfallen and whose wings were dragging along the molecules of water in the cloud. "Nami, I believe Sanji knows this." Both Nami and Sanji shot their heads up. Sanji's face lit up when he realized she understood his plan, while Nami's expression was one of horror.

"You would purposefully hurt yourself to see this human? What if he doesn't even help you? What if you die on your landing?" Nami asked as her wings began to shuffle in irritation.

Sanji's wings only lowered when he realized she still didn't approve. "Yes, I would." He whispered, "I won't die sweet Nami. I will make sure I land with just enough for him to heal me. I want him to take care of me me after the fall and I know that he will help. He is the kind of man who does. It seems like the best way to meet him."

Nami sighed, making the wind sweep through the clouds around them. Her wings picked up again as she resonated her last two questions before she approved. "How long are you planning to stay down and do you want us to do anything?"

"I want to stay with him till his end if he will let me. If not I will come back when I am healed, just if I do come back, try to save me." It was all Sanji wanted. Even if his two closest friends didn't approve of his idea he still planned to go through with it, but it would have been hard to leave with unresolved issues.

He gave Robin and Nami a quick hug goodbye, knowing this could be the last time he will ever see either of them and then flew back to his cloud overlooking the home of the man he loved. It was night now, the perfect time for his plan to start.

Contrary to what humans might think of angels, they do need sleep. They may not need it for several years, but it is still something that their bodies require. So Sanji lying down to sleep on his cloud after about two years without it was nothing suspicious, nor was the fact that he was restless while sleeping. So when he slipped off his cloud and toppled to the earth the angels who witnessed it didn't think much of it, except hoping that he didn't get too badly hurt in the fall.


	2. Meeting

The muscles in Zoro's shoulders tensed when the feeling of those ever watchful and protective eyes left him. He had gotten so used to the feeling that when they disappeared, like now, he began to feel vulnerable, something he hadn't felt since he left his masters house. The gaze made him feel like he always had someone watching his back and protecting him from things, even little ones like a wasp attempting to sting him. With them gone he also felt a loneliness creeping through his skin, something he had not felt since the death of his master's daughter.

Zoro had never been able to find who or what watched him and after the first couple months of feeling observed, he had started to ignore it. The person, or animal, wasn't harming him in any way, nor was the gaze malicious. It actually was rather calming. Zoro could meditate and practice for hours longer than he was used to when those eyes were upon him.

The first year after they appeared, they also occasionally disappeared, but were never gone for long. It was in the second year that they became constant. After his fight with Mihawk where he was positive that his life was over he learned that whomever, or whatever, it was that watched him does it for his protection. When Mihawk's blade came down aiming for his chest Zoro felt the push of a hand on his sternum, forcing him back and away from the oncoming blow. After that Zoro attributed the gaze to some sort of guardian, yet he was skeptical about it. Luffy and the others weren't helpful. Luffy told him it was a mystery stare, while Usopp was scared it was someone going to harm them, and Chopper fell for Usopp's lie, thus never giving an opinion of his own. Than after the incident with his eye, his beliefs of the gaze being there to save him were confirmed. If he hadn't felt that push on his chest again, which Usopp deemed was most likely just wind, he would have lost his sight instead of just his eyelid and his iris only being lightly grazed.

Zoro knew that the presence wasn't mean, but every time he mentioned it in front of the guys Usopp would freak out claiming that a disembodied gaze following someone around couldn't be a good thing, however Zoro disagreed. There was something in the way it watched him. It made him feel protected, looked after, cared for, hell even loved and that was something Zoro never thought he would experience.

So the fact that the gaze had disappeared when it hadn't left in an entire year worried Zoro. His shoulders tensed, his spine straightened, his grip tightened on Wado, and he extended his senses, searching for the lingering sight that he could never find before. It was no use now like it had been all the other times he had tried.

Zoro placed Wado back in her saya and stepped into his little house. He couldn't practice without those eyes watching him, it didn't feel right. He set Wado down on the table in the living room, walking to the kitchen with the idea of making tea. Without practice he didn't know what to do. With the eyes gone he felt lost while standing in his kitchen setting the kettle on the small stove.

Zoro glanced around his living room, taking in the sparse furniture littering it along with the open door to his room and bath. He lived a simple life, didn't want anything too complicated in it, so when something out of the ordinary happened Zoro gets flustered. It happened when he first felt the gaze, he ended up almost losing himself in the village and woods, more so than usual. It happened when Luffy first showed up, Zoro couldn't talk to the teen for the first week he came over. And it happened when he first met Usopp and Chopper, he was short and bad tempered around them for a while before he warmed up to them. So when something that had become a consent disappeared from his simple life, Zoro didn't know what to do.

The sound of his kettle boiling brought him out of his stupor, making him turn his attention back to the world around him. Zoro filled his mug and stepped back outside to watch the clouds move through the sky.

Another thing that changed for him when the eyes started following him was the way he started to perceive the sky above him. It became more expansive and vibrant than he ever realized. The stars shone brighter, the clouds were fluffier, the blue more dazzling than he had ever realized before.

Zoro could never find where this gaze came from but when he would look he was always staring at the clouds. At first he thought it might have been a bird that was watching him, but he never saw one.

Another day when he mentioned it to the guys, Usopp starting spouting out nonsense about angels that watch over important people. Since then Zoro had begun to wonder if angels were real, if they really did guard over people that were going to change the world, but he eventually wrote it off as Usopp making up another random story.

He sipped his tea as he sat on the step outside watching the clouds slowly drift past heading towards another land. Zoro heard little songbirds calling out to one another as he closed his eyes trying to calm his body. He had been living under those watchful eyes for so long that he had begun to feel safe and now, now he had to get accustomed to being without them again. Zoro hoped they would come back like they used to, but there was no way to find out.

He cleared his mind of the world around him shutting out the song birds, the lowering sun, the warm mug in his palms, the wood grain beneath him, and just let his head fill with the reassuring gaze he had grown to trust in the past two years. He felt his muscles begin to relax as his thoughts filled with the stare he had never seen.

Timed passed, more than he had intended too for when he opened his eyes again the birds were gone, the sky was black, and the mug cold in his hands. Zoro sighed as he stood up planning to head inside to prepare to sleep when a light, seen from the corner of his eye, in the sky caught his attention. It didn't seem to be anything at first, maybe just a bright star wanting to outshine all the others around it, but it also seemed to get bigger as well as brighter the longer it burned. Zoro watched it in fascination as it grew in size.

"Maybe, it's one of Usopp's stupid inventions again." He whispered into the chilly night air remembering a time when the inventor had made, what he called, fireworks that shot into the sky creating dazzling colors in the night.

Zoro couldn't have been more wrong as he began to notice that not only was it getting bigger and brighter, but it seemed to be getting closer at an alarming rate. He rose from his step, mug forgotten in hand, as he took a couple steps towards the direction the object seemed to be falling.

Whatever it was that was crashing to the ground seemed to be on fire and, if Zoro heard correctly, it was also screaming. Zoro dropped his mug as he dashed into the woods intent on helping whoever, or whatever, was going to crash land. He kept looking at it so as to not lose himself in the thickness of the trees while pushing his way through the underbrush, feeling little scratches form across his bare arms and tearing small holes in the thin work-out shirt he was still wearing as he sprinted.

It was nearing the tops of the trees now, turning in mid air to land in a certain position instead of whatever it was in before. Zoro couldn't see what the fire from the atmosphere was consuming but judging by the screams that seemed to echo through the air he assumed it was human. But there was no way a human could survive a fall like that, even him. Zoro's heart rate quickened as he neared the ball of flames scorching the trees before its path.

_This can't be happening_ , Zoro thought as he dodged a branch flying towards him, thrown from its impact with the falling object. _There is no way this can be happening_ , he kept repeating in his head as he followed the decimated line of trees towards a burned out clearing.

He had seen them, the wings, before the creature fully disappeared behind the smoke that flew up from impact with the dirt. Zoro turned and hunched down, shielding his eyes and face from the dirt and smoke curling around what, Zoro glimpsed to be, a person with wings. "This can't be happening," he muttered before slowly resurfacing his head from his arms.

_It- it looked like it could have been an angel_ , he thought as he turned around to see a crater before him. It sloped down several feet before him, leading into a trench that smoldered with the remains of the fallen being. Zoro moved cautiously forward, wishing he had brought his katana with him in case the being lashed out. Slowly making his way down the smoking ramp, arm covering his mouth in order to not breath in too much dust, legs poised to run if need be. He prepared to find the worst.

He expected to see ash and bones, but what he saw through the haze of the diminishing smoke wasn't that. It was a man, still alive, still whole with black and white wings sprouting from his back. His naked body covered in soot and grime shivered in the damp chill of the night.

Zoro's heart stopped when he felt the gaze again, the one that disappeared on him earlier, the one that Zoro has realized he has trouble living without. Zoro lifted his eyes slowly up the mans body, taking in the pale skin of his hairy legs, the protruding hip bones, the flat stomach, defined chest, slender neck, sharp jaw, pink lips, and then wide shocked blue eyes. Eyes that stared at him with a familiarity that Zoro had trouble believing, yet knew it was true.

_This can't be happening_ , swam through Zoro's mind again as the man and angel stared at each other taking the other in. Zoro watched as the angel's face paled another two shades before turning to face the side and heaving up nothing but air and bile. Zoro reacted quickly running up to the man and pulling his shoulder length blond hair out of his face, but Zoro didn't know what to do besides that. He had a sick and, what looked to be, bruised and broken angel on his hands. _What do I do with him?_ , Zoro thought as he brushed the man's hair out of his eyes, seeing the odd way his eyebrows curled in the same direction.

When the angel was done Zoro helped him sit up by grabbing his arm and propping him up against a large rock a foot behind him, being careful not to get his wings caught. But now Zoro didn't know what to do. _What do you do with an angel that fell from the sky?_ _An angel that has most likely been watching me for two years._ His mind raced with images of taking the angel home and caring for him just as he had been doing for Zoro. It was an odd thought for him to have, given that he has never done this sort of thing, but this angel had cared and watched him for so long that Zoro felt it was time to return the favor. Zoro kneeled there in front of the angel watching him as he tried to catch his breath. He was breathing too hard and too fast, Zoro had to do something before he passed out.

"Calm down," Zoro whispered placing a hand on the blond angels shoulder. "If you keep breathing like that you're gonna pass out. Take a large breath and hold it." Zoro demonstrated for the angel and then watched as the angel did what he was told, taking a big breath in but losing it too soon. "Try again," Zoro encouraged and showed once more squeezing the angels shoulder lightly to see if that reassured the man. The angel tried again and this time he was able to hold it and then breathed out slowly. Zoro wondered how the angel knew to exhale slowly without being told. A question he would have to ask later, after he got the angel to his house for there was no way he was going to leave the blond alone in a crater in the woods.

Calmed down from his own shock, about how angel's are real and this one seems to be his own guardian, Zoro shifted his hand from the mans shoulder to his cheek turning his face upward to look at him. The angel's clear blue eyes stared up at him as he continued to control his breathing. "I'm going to take you to my house." Zoro made sure to make his voice sound as calming as possible in case the angel was going to react like any frightened animal might. "Can you stand?"

The angel didn't reply or even acknowledge what Zoro had asked. He just kept sitting where he was. His breathing was completely under control now, and his cheek nuzzling into the palm of Zoro's hand. As soon as Zoro realized this he quickly took it back and watched as the angel's shoulders fell at the action.

"I don't think you can understand me." Zoro muttered putting his hands on his thighs as he stood up from his kneeling position, the angel never taking his eyes off of him. _This is gonna complicate things_ , Zoro pondered as he looked the angel up and down more thoroughly, searching for broken bones under the bruises.

Zoro could tell that the angel had a couple of ribs cracked, severe bruising along his right hip and thigh, his right arm might be fractured but it could also just be badly sprained, Zoro would have to take a closer look at it. Plus the angel might have a concussion seeing the blood dripping down from the back of his neck. Zoro even scanned the angels wings, the right one was bent funny, meaning it could be broken, but Zoro knew nothing about bird wings. He would have to get Chopper's help when he and the guys drop in at their usual time for lunch.

Zoro looked at the angel man before him and wondered how he was going to get him back to his house. The fact that Zoro even considered taking a stranger into his home showed him that this man, this angel, in front of him happens to be someone he has known for awhile. Someone who has protected him when he needed it the most, even if it wasn't asked for. So, with this in mind, Zoro considered his options, he could carry the man in the, as Usopp likes to call it, 'princess style' with one of Zoro's arms under the angel's knees and the other probably below his wings. It seemed the easiest to do, but he could also carry him piggy back if need be, or like a sack over his shoulder. Zoro decided he would try the princess hold first and see if that worked because it would be the least harming to his bruised body.

"I know you might not understand me," he said in the calm voice he uses when he has to placate an upset Chopper, "but I need to get you back to my house, so I'm gonna pick you up now." Zoro leaned down and slowly picked the angels legs up and placed them on his left arm making sure that the angels battered side wasn't going to lay against him. Zoro then proceeded to move his other arm behind the angels back but was pushed away before he could even touch the man with his right hand. The angel angled his back and wings away from Zoro, eyes wide while he reached his good left arm back to black what it could of his wings, bringing his knees up to his chest in a form of protection, causing Zoro to yell out a small list of obscenities.

Than angels legs had still been hanging over Zoro's arm, so when the blond freaked out his legs clenched and pulled up dragging Zoro's arm with them, almost breaking it in the process. Zoro yelled out as he pulled his arm quickly from the angel's curling legs, not wanting it to break. "He has some leg strength," Zoro muttered as he rubbed his forearm getting some circulation back through it. "Alright. No touching the wings."

Zoro's next preferred option was on his back. It was going to hurt the angel's bruised thigh, but if he didn't want Zoro touching his wings it was the best option. So Zoro carefully stepped towards the blond turning around to show him his back hoping the angel will understand what Zoro was planning to do.

Zoro had never done this before, showed his back to someone that could possible harm him. But Zoro also knew, inexplicably, that he could trust this angel with his back and his life, since that angel had been doing that for two years already. Zoro only hoped that if the blond was who Zoro thought, that he will understand the significance and accept the trust offered to him.

Zoro kneeled down, his back towards the angel, and held his arms out behind him gesturing for the angel to get on. The angel understood to get on Zoro's back, but Zoro couldn't be sure if the blond got the second part of the offer. The angel very cautiously wrapped his arms around Zoro's neck, his right one hanging slightly limp while the left threatened to choke Zoro. The angel then lifted his left leg up to Zoro's outstretched hand and placed it in Zoro's hold. Zoro carefully grabbed the other bringing it to his hip hearing the blond hiss at the burn of his injury against contact. Zoro tried not to jostle the blond as he stood up and adjusted the angels weight on his back.

The angel's wings were dragging in the dirt behind them as they moved out of the crater and up to the edge of the woods. As Zoro walked home he felt the blond lightly touch his collarbone before slowly slipping into sleep.

* * *

Sanji had never before seen what his moss ball looked like, so the first time he opened his eyes on earth and saw the green haired man before him he almost forgot what he went down to earth to do.

Sanji knew that his human had tan skin and a well defined body, but for him to see it up close made his stomach ache and turn in a way that he was not familiar with. Sanji tried to place the feeling into something he might have learned from watching humanity throughout all the years, but it didn't come. Not until he was dry heaving up the air and bile that was sitting in his stomach. Sanji didn't know what this was, his stomach clenched on itself causing him to lean over and expel what little was within him.

He felt the grass heads hand move his hair back away from his face, exposing his features to the man. Sanji felt weak and helpless as the moss head helped him to sit up against a rock some ways behind him after his stomach finished turning within his body.

The new sensations Sanji was experiencing were beyond his comprehension as he sat there feeling the earth, dirt, and grit underneath him and covering his skin. A jitter within his body began to rise from the pit of his stomach out into his chest and the rest of him. _What is happening?_ Sanji thought trying desperately to catch his breath, being used to the lower oxygen content of the upper levels of the sky, Sanji found that there was too much of it down here. His head began to swim before the moss head placed his hand on his shoulder and spoke something in a voice that was soothing to the blond's ears. Sanji focused all the attention he could muster onto the moss ball, the sound of his voice as he told Sanji something that he couldn't yet understand but followed the example of slow breaths that the human was showing him. Sanji didn't manage to hold it the same way the moss ball did, too much oxygen rushed in him and he exhaled a quick shaky breath before the grass head showed him again and Sanji copied one more time, this time getting it and exhaling slowly, remembering how the young man before him sits and meditates. Sanji kept up the controlled breathing because it soothed his rapidly beating heart.

The moss ball's fingers moved along Sanji's shoulder and up to his cheek, leaving behind a shadowy trail of lightning in their wake. His fingers pulled Sanji's head up to face him and Sanji stared unperturbed into the slate eyes of the man before him, the left one a shade lighter along the edge than the other, because of the small scar that cut along his iris.

The moss heads calming voice broke through Sanji's mind hauling him from the gaze he had on the mans eyes. Sanji couldn't understand what the grass head was saying, but it seemed like he wanted something.

Sanji wished his ability to learn human speech worked faster than it was going. He had heard tales of angels who learned in minutes, and others that took days. Sanji had hoped he was the former, but it looked to be the latter.

The moss ball's hand still set on his cheek provided Sanji a warmth he realized he needed as his body laid bare to the evening around them. Sanji nuzzled his cheek further into the warmth of the man he cared for so deeply, hoping that the grass head might reciprocate or at least feel the love that washed out of Sanji's pores.

He kept his stare on the moss ball as he saw the realization that Sanji couldn't understand sink into the man. The mans hand quickly pulled away from Sanji's cheek leaving him feeling cold and empty, a hollow feeling in his chest cavity that, again, he didn't know what to name. Sanji shoulders dropped, but he determinedly kept his eyes on the man before him, not wanting to miss a thing the human did. So Sanji watched the man stand up, the grass head placing his hands on his own thighs to help lift himself, before Sanji's sitting frame

Sanji watched as the young man looked over his naked body. He wasn't sure what moss ball was doing but he figured he had to be looking at the damage the fall caused. Sanji could feel it all, the sore limbs on his right side, the way it hurt his chest when he shifted, and he could even feel warm liquid rolling down the back of his neck. Sanji assumed it was blood since he could feel the same happening on the other little cuts on his body, but he wasn't quite sure. It was a new experience for the blond, just like everything so far and as everything will be after this.

When Sanji saw the moss ball's eyes shift from his body to his wings he felt his heart speed up. His wings. Sanji had forgotten about his wings. If they were too badly damaged it could take months for him to heal and he didn't really have the time for that. If Sanji happened to be gone longer than two weeks the top ranking angels will send others down to find him and eradicate all humans who happened to see him.

Sanji felt his heart rate pick up as his thoughts tumbled in all the wrong directions. He quickly scanned over his wings, feeling them from the inside, to see if anything was wrong. His right one was strained and not sitting correctly, but it should only take a little over a week to heal if he can wrap it up properly. The problem was his right arm, it seemed to be damaged as well which could make bandaging the wing difficult since he was unwilling to let the moss ball do it. His head began to pound with all the thoughts racing through it. Sanji needed rest.

The moss head's voice suddenly pierced through the fog clouding Sanji's mind, it soothed him to hear the words that he began to understand. The young man then stepped up to Sanji's left side bending down to pick up Sanji's legs and placed them on his arm, he then proceeded to move his other arm towards Sanji's back. Sanji quickly shoved him away, heart in his throat and fear clouding his mind. His wings couldn't be touched, not yet. Not until he learned if the moss ball could love him or not. Sanji reached his good arm behind him, keeping his back away from the grass head, pulling his wings towards him as he brought his legs up to protect himself. The moss ball yelled, extracting his arm from between Sanji's calves and thighs and rubbed it, muttering words that Sanji knew were blasphemous.

He watched as the man spoke again before standing up and before him with his back turned towards Sanji. Sanji sucked it a breath, the moss ball was showing him his back. Showing **him** his **back**. _His back_. Sanji could never hear what the moss head and his friends talked about, but the one thing that Sanji could always see when the grass head fought was that the a back was sacred. A place that was meant to not be touched. Sanji knew what the young man was planning to do but Sanji didn't know if he could do it. He was being offered something that the man before him offered none but his close friends, the trust of letting them see and protect his back.

The moss balls arms were out behind him now gesturing for Sanji to get on. Sanji took the offer, the one presented to him and the one that the grass head had unconsciously done. Sanji cautiously wrapped his arms around the moss balls neck, his right arm hanging loose because of the pain that ran through his nerves when Sanji tried to tighten his hold with it, so his left arm held on tighter for the others lack. He then lifted his left leg up to the outstretched arm placing it down in the hold offered to him. Sanji's right leg was then carefully handled and brought to the grass head's hip with only a small hiss of pain escaping Sanji's mouth.

Sanji's face burned at being held so close to the man he cared for. The strong back supporting his weight and carrying him out of the crater he had created and up to the edge of the woods. His duck wings dragged on the ground behind them as the moss ball walked in the correct direction for once, which Sanji was glad for, giving a pleasant sigh as he silently thanked the man in his hold.

Sanji felt his bruises and burns rub against the grass heads arm, chest, and back as they continued forward. He pushed the pain of his injuries away as he thought about and examined the young man in his arms. The moss head was more handsome than Sanji thought he would be.

Yes, Sanji knew that he was well built, with tanned skin, and green hair, but it was the definition of the muscles beneath the thin shirt the grass head wore that really made Sanji's face as red as the setting sun. Sanji also knew, despite not seeing for himself till now, that the moss ball had a handsome face, high cheek bones, cut jaw line, broad forehead, and they all came together to form what Sanji deemed a masterpiece.

He sighed again as his left hand felt the man's collar bone beneath his fingertips, caressing it lightly before feeling his mind fog up again. Sanji's eyes closed while he thought about how the moss balls trim waist fit snugly between his thighs.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So a note on Zoro's scared eye. Yes it can happen. You can scratch and scar your iris without losing your sight. My mother has a friend who got a piece of rusted metal in her eye once and ever since she has had a red/brown spot in her clear blue eyes.


End file.
